‘Palestine Week’ raising tensions

Students, faculty and administrators at the University of California San Diego are preparing for a contentious annual event that is shaping up to be more confrontational than usual.

Justice in Palestine Week routinely heightens tensions on campus. But this year, Jewish faculty and students have resolved to do more to counter what they see as the false and hateful premise of the weeklong event — which begins Monday — put on by the UCSD Muslim Student Association.

“What we have seen over the years is a growing level of distortion and venom in the portrayal of the situation in Israel,” said Dr. David Feifel, a professor in the psychiatry department.

Organizers insist the event is not hateful and is simply meant to educate UCSD students and the public about the Israeli government’s mistreatment of Palestinians.

“It’s time for accountability,” said Sarmad Bokhari, 21, president of the Muslim Student Association. “We’re concerned that the U.S. government has unconditional support for the policies of the government of Israel, which increasingly by international standards is seen as an apartheid state similar to South Africa in the ’80s.”

Feifel is one of 28 faculty members who signed a letter, published last month as a full-page ad in the campus newspaper The Guardian, calling the event a “hate-fest” and suggesting the student groups behind it support the destruction of Israel.

Feifel said anti-Israel faculty at UCSD have long been outspoken.

“Pro-Israel faculty have mostly been on the sidelines,” he said. “But last year, the situation just became intolerable. There was a sense that we need to organize and put forth a voice.

“We have been hearing from students about how marginalized and fearful they are during these events, and year-round at UCSD. For us, hearing this from students was the most motivating thing.”

A smaller group of faculty members responded with a letter to The Guardian, accusing the pro-Israel professors of disregarding the principles of academic freedom and robust debate and trying to “strike a pre-emptive blow” against Justice in Palestine Week.

“It was a sad case of professors bullying student groups,” said professor Gary Fields, one of those who signed the response to the pro-Israel faculty. “They were trying to undermine this event. It was quite successful last year, one of the most successful on campus in a long time.

“There were very visible signs that this event struck a chord on campus, exactly the kind of event that should happen on a campus to get people to discuss controversial issues like the Middle East.”

Like the pro-Israel professors, Jewish students said the time has come to respond more vigorously than they have in the past.

“To see accusations of deliberate human-rights violations, of deliberate killings, that’s the equivalent of calling me a racist,” said Lior Abramson, 21, president of Tritons for Israel. “When they label you a racist, a person who doesn’t deserve to exist, you can’t just sit and watch and observe.

“I have so many friends and relatives in the Israeli Defense Forces,” said Abramson, who was born in Israel. “It’s one of the most moral armies in the world.”

Jewish students contend that the Justice in Palestine display on the university’s Library Walk typically displays swastikas and equates Jews with Nazis.

“It’s obviously anti-Semitic,” said Daniel Friedman, a 21-year-old student who said Jewish students this year will have their own display daily within 30 feet of the Muslim students.

“They have a saying: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ ” Abramson said. “What that means is the elimination of Israel and the Jewish people. There is no other way to take it.”

But Bokhari and Iyad Nasla, a fellow member of the Muslim Student Association, said those allegations are false.

“Elimination of the Jewish state? Not true at all,” said Nasla, 20, who is of Palestinian descent. “What we want is firmer demands by our government for Israel to stop the expansion of illegal settlements, the unblocking of the economic and humanitarian blockade of Gaza, the end of the apartheid system in the West Bank.”

Both students insisted there will be no swastikas or similar provocations on their displays or at their events.

The Muslim and the Jewish students said they have counseled their sympathizers to be civil and focus on discourse during the event while avoiding shouting or physical confrontations.

“But both sides have their crazies,” said Friedman.

Jeff Gattas, a UCSD spokesman, said campus officials are well aware of the “very strong opinions” surrounding the event.

“Whenever we have controversial events on campus,” Gattas said, “we take extra precautions to make sure the safety of our students is taken into account.”